Direct Marketing in India has been around quite long, with pioneering publishers selling mail order books in the 1920s. Today, DRTV flourishes, as does e-tailing. Some marketers are using snail mail and email very profitably too. Yet we keep hearing that DM doesn't work because "Indians don't read!"
Our blog started as a search for sense in this tiny 'industry' but soon we began to search for sense elsewhere too. We haven't found much, yet...

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About Me

Nabanita started off as an agency account servicing person, but now works in a client organization, as a full-time consultant at the Taj for their database marketing.
Pabitra started as an copywriter, but has done plenty of planning, and some amount of analytics. He is a freelance copywriter.
Both of us believe labels are idiotic in direct: You think of everything, do what you're best at. This has led us to teach ourselves a fair amount of software too (FoxPro, SPSS, SQL, and, of course, Excel and Access).
We worship Claude Hopkins, revere Bob Stone, and idolize Robert Updegraff (Obvious Adams).

Thursday 5 May 2011

Is it only words?

The questions about Pakistan’s role in Bin Laden’s escaping justice for a decade rises a couple of questions. But before them, a disclaimer. I have no love lost for our neighbors, Pakistan. Perhaps history will decide the terrorists they sent us are freedom fighters, but I’m not too interested in history’s judgment, especially if it may come over my dead body.

Second, while the USA may fare no better in history’s court than India – most probably, it’ll do far worse – many of my family live there. Besides, quite a few are American citizens. And I want my family to be safe far more than I want justice. That ends the disclaimer.

Now, the questions. If the presence of Bin Laden in Pakistan proves that the Pakistanis, especially the Pakistani military, are aiding and abetting terrorists, why didn’t the fact that the 9/11 terrorists plotted and trained in Germany prove that the Germans were taking revenge for the two world wars through Islamic terror, more so because the Jews are common enemies to both Nazis and Islamic terrorists? How are we so sure that it wasn’t intelligence failure and was collusion?

More importantly, if Americans do know that it was the latter, what are they going to do about it? Invade Pakistan? Impose regime change? Bomb them to the Stone Age?

Ok, here’s the second question. Apparently, when India sought America’s help after 26/11, they were told that Americans won’t allow any ‘fishing expedition’ and shown the door. Considering their own fishing expedition cost $ 2,000 billion, lasted 10 years, and yielded (quite probably) a red herring, what was the logic of ‘protecting’ Pakistan then? How does anyone investigate anything without beginning with a fishing expedition?

It’s hard to understand the rationale behind American rhetoric, but is there any rationale behind their rationale?